Espresso Extraction and Technique
Bridge the gap between pulling erratic shots and consistently crafting cafe-quality espresso. Learn the mechanics of puck prep, extraction diagnosis, flow profiling, and microfoam chemistry.
Like Duolingo, but for Espresso Extraction and Technique. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
24 levels across 4 sections, about 48 minutes end to end, roughly 10 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Dialing In and Puck Dynamics, Diagnosing Shot Chemistry, Milk Chemistry and Beverage Balance, and Machine Dynamics and Water Physics. It assumes you already know the basics.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Espresso Extraction and Technique
- Keeping dry dose fixed ensures changes in flow rate are caused solely by grind size.
- Altering basket dose changes headspace and puck resistance unpredictably.
- Isolating a single variable prevents chasing conflicting extraction changes.
- Finer particles pack tighter, slowing water passage and boosting compound dissolution.
- Coarse particles let water rush through, leaving sugars and balance unextracted.
- Grinding beyond burr limits forces water into channels, causing sharp bitterness.
- A 1:2 ratio creates a standardized baseline to compare shot time and texture.
- Lighter roasts often need higher ratios like 1:2.5 to fully extract sweeter notes.
- Darker roasts often taste better when cut short near 1:1.5 to avoid harsh ashiness.
- Grinder chutes hold stale grounds from previous settings that contaminate the next dose.
- Unpurged shots display split flow behavior from a blend of two distinct particle sizes.
- Droplets bead evenly across the basket base before merging into a unified central stream.
- High-density red-brown crema stripes indicate concentrated early soluble extraction.
- Sudden translucent blonder flow signals that soluble solids are exhausted.
- Purging a few grams clears old grounds and ensures the next shot reflects the new setting.
- Water under 9 bars automatically diverts toward lower-resistance paths in the puck
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Espresso Extraction and Technique the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
What happens if you try to adjust shot time by adding or removing grounds from the basket instead of changing grind?
Get it right to open this lesson and 23 more in the app.
Where Espresso Extraction and Technique takes you
- 1
Dialing In and Puck Dynamics
- The Systematic Dial-In Routine
- Puck Preparation Mechanics
- 2
Diagnosing Shot Chemistry
- Tasting Extraction Yields
- Detecting and Preventing Channeling
- 3
Milk Chemistry and Beverage Balance
- Microfoam Physics and Steaming
- Recipe Architecture and Ratios
- 4
Machine Dynamics and Water Physics
- Pressure Curves and Thermal Stability
- Water Chemistry and Equipment Care
4 sections · 8 units · 24 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
Tomo is in ChatGPT
Tomo is also a ChatGPT plugin: the same playable courses, built and played inside your chat.
Add Tomo to ChatGPT- What to ask
- “Make me a Tomo course on black holes.” “Turn this chat into a Tomo course.”
- What you get
- Quick questions with instant feedback, hearts and stars, ready to play in about a minute.
- Where it goes
- No sign-up to start. Connect your Tomo account and your streak carries on in the app.
You pick the voice
Espresso Extraction and Technique is taught in the The Bestie style: your friend who just gets it. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start Espresso Extraction and Technique today.
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